1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus such as facsimile mail apparatus and simple facsimile apparatus performing the group 3 facsimile communication, and in particular relates to a communication apparatus having the group 3 subaddress communication functions recently standardized by CCITT (international telegraph and telephone consultative committee), recommendation No.Q.931.
2. Related Art
A communication apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus has been used in an office in general and it has been used for electronic mailing operation in an increasing number of cases, together with popularization of various computers such as personal computers and workstations and development of LAN (local area networks). Problems may occur in such an environment as that where facsimile mail systems have been widely used. The problems may occur due to the following reasons: In the standard communication network, facsimile apparatuses are connected to a so-called WAN (wide area network) such as PSTN (public switched telephone network) or ISDN (integrated service digital network) while personal computers and workstations using the electronic mailing function are connected to a LAN. The two network types WAN and LAN have different address systems. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 4-117744 discloses a technology of an electronic mail apparatus, which technology may be effective to cope with the problematic condition of the address system mismatch. By using the technology, if the operator intends to send electronic mail data to a certain facsimile apparatus(es) through a personal computer, workstation or the like and via the facsimile function, the operator could report the destination facsimile apparatus address(es) to a facsimile server through the personal computer, workstation or the like. Thus, the electronic mail data is then distributed to the desired destination facsimile apparatus(es) from the facsimile server apparatus.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 4-223656 discloses a facsimile apparatus to which personal electronic mail destination addresses may be given, the facsimile apparatus receiving facsimile data which is to be distributed to the personal electronic mail destination addresses as electronic mail. By reporting the fact of the facsimile-data reception to the personal electronic mail destination addresses, the relevant persons may get the facsimile data from the facsimile apparatus.
However, a communication apparatus such as the disclosed facsimile apparatus to which the users may give personal destination addresses should have comprised a facsimile apparatus, such as the group 4 facsimile apparatus, which is connected to ISDN and should not have been one, such as the group 3 facsimile apparatus, which can be connected only to PSTN. This is because the standard communication procedure used in the group 3 facsimile apparatus is based on the CCITT recommendation international standard and the relevant address reporting function has not been standardized in the CCITT recommendation.
In a facsimile mail system in the related art having a document storing and interchanging function, a facsimile mail apparatus may receive various-service request from a simple facsimile apparatus. If the operator intends to request to perform a facsimile mail distribution operation to the facsimile mail apparatus, the operator inputs the relevant destination address(es) for the main distribution. The destination address to be input in ISDN or the like may comprise as follows, for example: destination user identification numbers, telephone numbers, or simultaneous multi-address group identification numbers for general transmission cases; destination user identification numbers or PO box numbers for PO box transmission cases; and bulletin board system (BBS) numbers for bulletin board transmission cases.
If the operator intends to request mail distribution operation to a group 3 facsimile apparatus connected to a telephone network such as the PSTN, a PB (pushbutton) signal is used to input destination addresses. Such a procedure is used because communication apparatuses used in the facsimile mail system mainly comprise group 3 facsimile apparatuses. Further, the above procedure is used because a subaddress transmission/reception procedure has not been provided in the standardized procedure.
Recently, a procedure in which a subaddress(es) is(are) transmitted/received by group 3 facsimile communication apparatuses has been standardized in the CCITT recommendation. For a group 3 facsimile communication apparatus using the procedure, mail distribution destinations may be specified using a subaddress(es), easy and reliable mail distribution service ordering being thus implemented.
The group 4 facsimile apparatus disclosed in the above Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No.4-223656 problematically rejects incoming facsimile data which contains no subaddress. Further, since this facsimile apparatus treats all incoming facsimile data as mail data which is, as a result, to be distributed to the specified mail destinations, the incoming facsimile data is not printed unless the operator inputs a printing instruction to the apparatus. Such an operation manner may inconvenience an operator who wishes to get the relevant mail as printed matter. Another problem is that a person who has no electronic mail address cannot receive any electronic mail through this facsimile apparatus. Another problem is that since the apparatus manages all received facsimile data as electronic mail, the apparatus is required to have a construction containing a complete proper electronic-mail processing function, the apparatus being thus large scale.